Chapter 1

It was complete chaos.

Scientists were running around screaming, random objects were flying through the air; all the while Astro looked upon the scene, eyes wide. A rip through the air colored purple and green was pulling in everything around it; the wind surrounding it was incredibly strong. The room around him felt as if it were trembling, the ground shaking. Astro had no idea what to do. He couldn't believe it.

All this from one mistake.

. . .

Dr. Tenma's penthouse - 2 hours earlier

"I'm heading off to work to finish the project," Dr. Tenma called as he pulled on his lab coat. "I'll see you when I get home, kiddo?"

"Yeah, Dad! Be safe," Astro replied from the dining table, where he was finishing up his breakfast. Despite being a robot, he could still eat real food. When it entered where his stomach was supposed to be, it was vaporized instantly. Astro had thought that was cool. As his father left the penthouse apartment, Astro gulped down the remainder of his toast, and turned to stand, nearly knocking over Orrin in the process.

"Oof! Sorry, Astro!" Orrin apologized, nearly dropping the tray he held in his hands. "I'm a bit clumsy today, it seems."

"No worries, Orrin," Astro said with a smile. "See you later!" Hurrying up to his bedroom, he grabbed his backpack, opened his window, and took off into the sky.

It had been about two months since his encounter with Stone and the Peacekeeper. Metro City had remained on the Surface since then, the citizens of the city becoming more lax and inviting to the Surface people. His dad had also gotten his job back at the Ministry and placed Astro into Metro High School, with everyone being so happy to see him.

He frowned at the thought, remembering how most of them had treated Toby when he was still... Astro shook his head to clear it, placing a smile back on his face. It was only natural that everyone looked up to him. He was the protector of Metro City, after all.

As he approached the school, students glanced up into the sky as he came in for a landing, smiles on their faces. Several of them came up to him as he touched down, bombarding him with questions. They had continuously done this every day since he saved them from the Peacekeeper, and he'd since then dubbed them his fanclub.

"Sorry, guys. I-I gotta get to class," Astro stammered, his hands out in apology as he hurried toward the building.

"Aw, you always say that!" a student whined after him, watching as he disappeared into the doorway.

Wincing as he entered the building, he was immediately knocked over by a hunk of metal. With a shout in surprise, Astro fell to the ground and was met by dozens of licks to the face. Squinting one eye open, he recognized the hunk of metal as Trashcan from his friends on the Surface. "Hey, Trashcan!" Astro laughed, turning his face to the side to avoid any more frontal licks. "Yeah, I know you missed me, huh?"

"Sorry, Astro!"

Trashcan was quickly pulled off of Astro and whilst wiping off his face, he recognized Zane, one of his Surface friends. Zane, Widget, and Sludge were all adopted by Cora's parents after their reunion, and since then, both Zane and Cora attended Metro High School. The twins went respectfully to the grade school down the road.

"I was trying some things with his affection chips. Seems like they need a bit more work…" Zane chuckled as Trashcan whined in his grip, struggling to get to Astro with his tongue lolling out the side.

"Why'd you bring him to school, though?" Astro asked, standing and wiping himself off.

"I asked Mr. Moustachio if we could bring him in for a group study today," Cora answered, coming up and standing beside Zane. She bent over and pet Trashcan's head as she continued. "He's just so darn cute, no one can resist his charms!"

As the three of them laughed at Cora's words, the warning bell rang for class to begin. They all hurried off to Mr. Moustachio's class, Trashcan in tow.

. . .

Ministry of Science - 30 minutes prior to event

"Dr. Elefun, can you hand me the proton fabrillicator?" Dr. Tenma called from underneath a hefty-looking machine, his hand making a grabbing motion.

Dr. Elefun nodded from beside him in a chair, handing him a tiny stick object. Dr. Tenma took it in his hand and continued messing around underneath the machine. After a moment, Dr. Elefun sighed, his hands grasped tightly around his knees. "Are you sure this is such a good idea, Tenma?" Dr. Elefun finally voiced, wiping the sweat off his brow quickly. "Making such an intricate machine… Don't you think we should've gotten the council's approval first-?"

"Nonsense, Elefun," Dr. Tenma interrupted, coming out from underneath the machine. "I told you this the last time, too. Hell, they'll be thanking me when this is over. This project is meant to advance us farther into the unknown." He threw his hands in the air and continued. "And with some of Astro's Blue Core energy, it'll work like a charm!"

"I'm only trying to help you understand that all things aren't always a guaranteed success," Dr. Elefun argued. "Look at what happened with the Peacekeeper!" He gasped and covered his mouth as soon as it came out, a flabbergasted look on his face. "Tenma, I-I didn't mean to-"

Silently, Dr. Tenma turned towards the machine and placed a hand on its side. "I know, Elefun. Believe me, I do."

. . .

Testing room - 5 minutes prior to event

The two Ministers of Science stood in the testing room, similar to the one they originally had prior to the Peacekeeper incident. A row of other scientists stood behind them, their clipboards at the ready to take notes. Excited whispers flew around the room as Dr. Tenma and Dr. Elefun prepared for their unveil.

"Are you ready, Elefun?" Dr. Tenma asked his colleague, turning to him with a smile.

"As I'll ever be. Let's just hope nothing goes wrong...for both our sakes," he murmured, careful not to let anyone else hear. The both of them turned back to the machine, which was hooked up to pipes that held some of Astro's Blue Core energy. They had asked to take a little earlier that week, and Astro had happily obliged.

With the press of a button, the Blue Core surged through the tubes and into the machine. It whirred to life, expressing an array of vibrant colors in hues of red, blue, and green. Dr. Tenma's eyes twinkled and his smile reached his ears. "Splendid! Wonderful!" he laughed, hands in the air to his sides.

Dr. Elefun narrowed his eyes in on the middle of the machine as he pressed a button on a remote. Nothing was happening. Beginning to become worried, he pressed the button a few more times before turning to Dr. Tenma. "Tenma, something's gone wrong," he whispered. "The button for the wormhole production isn't working."

"Are you sure?" Dr. Tenma murmured back, eyeing where Dr. Elefun was staring.

After a few moments of staring and listening to the two Ministers whisper back and forth, the scientists in the back became slightly antsy. "Uhh, is this all it can do?" one called. "Blink pretty colors?"

"I thought this was a wormhole generator!" another called.

Dr. Tenma and Dr. Elefun glanced at one another and with a nod, Dr. Tenma lifted the button to turn off the machine. But instead of turning off, the machine remained on, starting to become erratic. Dr. Tenma repeatedly smashed the button, but to no avail. "Elefun…!" he hissed, a terrified look in his eyes.

Dr. Elefun mirrored his same look as he turned to the two scientists operating the control panel. "Lower the shield, quickly!"

At this, the onlookers in the room began panicking, bracing themselves for whatever came next. The woman at the controls lowered the shield, and the room fell eerily quiet. Everyone was waiting for something to happen.

Like a flame to a dry forest, a brightly-colored flash lit up the room. Everyone raised their voices in alarm, covering their eyes. When the light dimmed to just a glow, Dr. Tenma lowered his arm and gasped.

The project had gone horribly wrong.

"Quickly! C-call Astro!" Dr. Tenma ordered, swinging his arm through the air. "Everyone evacuate! Hurry!"

Dr. Elefun turned to Dr. Tenma, a terrified look in his eyes. "And just what is Astro supposed to do about this?" he pondered, yelling above everyone's screams as they abandoned the room.

"He needs to destroy it," Dr. Tenma answered shakily as he stared at what had become of his project, "or we're all doomed."

. . .

Metro High School - at time of event

A vibration flared up in his pocket and he jumped in surprise. Everyone glanced at Astro, all knowing and dreading what that meant. Astro took the caller out of his pocket and looked at the message that displayed on screen:

Astro! Ministry! You must destroy it! Quickly!

Astro's stomach dropped as he read the message from his father. What could have happened? Was he okay? Was everyone else okay?

"What's going on, Astro?" Mr. Moustachio called from the front of the room as he stood next to Trashcan on the desk. His hands were frozen in the air.

"I-I don't know," Astro stammered as he put away the caller. "But I have to go. Everyone, please remain indoors until further notice."

The room grew loud with the worried voices of the students as Astro hurried towards the door. His arm was yanked back, and he glanced back to see what had happened only to find Cora on the other end of it. She looked scared. "Please...be careful, Astro."

With an affirmative nod and a determined look, Astro hurried to the Ministry of Science.

. . .

At the Ministry - at time of event

Astro made his way around to the side of the machine, careful not to slip or lose his footing. If either of those happened he'd be sucked in, and he couldn't afford that. Astro formed his cannons and shot towards the machine. The energy bursts quickly veered away from his target and into the tear of space-time. Quickly, he realized this was not something he could fix. Or destroy.

He closed his eyes, reforming his cannons back into arms. Taking a deep breath, Astro braced himself for what he was about to tell his father - and everyone else, too. He ripped the caller from his pocket and quickly paged his dad, holding the device up to his ear.

"Astro?" his father's voice sounded from the other end of the tiny machine.

"Dad, th-there's nothing I can do. I-it's too powerful!" Astro said, his voice rising in panic.

"You can't destroy it?"

"No!" he replied, shrieking as some debris nearly missed his head. With a sigh, he continued. "You have to evacuate the city."

"What's that? You're cut - off!" Static. "As - o?!"

An idea sparked in his mind and he glanced around the room. There! He spotted it. A sharp piece of metal stuck between the control panel and another machine. "There's one last thing I can try. I-I have to try it." Grimacing, Astro continued on. "I am the protector, after all."

"As - o, wait - ease! Ther - as - to be - another way! You can-!"

"Onward and upward, Dad."

Click.

A pang of loneliness swept over him, but he pushed it away as he stuffed the caller back in his pocket. A large crash sounded in front of him and he saw the control panel had tore out from its mount, making its way towards the space-time rift, as well as the panel he had been eyeing. No!

He jumped from his solid ground, activating his rockets to get to the panel before it entered the rift. Grabbing it from the air, he began tumbling over and over. Astro quickly righted himself with the use of his rockets as he made his way closer to his target. He raised the panel over his head, and with a shout full of emotion and all of his strength, he struck the machine just above the rift.

The panel met its mark, tearing through the center of the machine with sparks flying from the gash. The wind stopped abruptly and all of the debris cascading through the air crashed to the ground with a deafening sound. The rift slowly blinked out of existence, leaving the room terrifyingly quiet.

And Astro was nowhere to be found.

Time seemed to slow as the minutes ticked by. A lone drone flew into the room, aiming its camera around every which way. Seeing that it was safe to enter, the drone turned back towards the door - or where the door had once been - and beeped three times. Dr. Tenma poked his head out from around the corner and entered the room slowly, making his way over the fallen debris. Dr. Elefun and several of the people who had been in the same room followed.

"Astro?" Dr. Tenma called through the room. "Astro?!"

A chorus of wails calling for Dr. Tenma's lost son arose as the Minister hurried towards the machine. Seeing what had perspired, he inspected the machine closely, watching the sparks continue to fly from where the panel had entered its chest cavity. All of its lights were off, yet it still seemed to be glowing with the hue of the Blue Core.

Hyperventilating and his eyes wild, Dr. Tenma shouted,

"Where is my son?!"

. . .

He had no idea what was happening.

Tumbling through the air while screaming, the last thing he remembered was shoving the sharp panel through the machine. He was surrounded by bright, vibrant colors in an array of patterns, nearly blinding him as he continued on. A tingling sensation crawled along his skin and inside of his body, causing him to shudder and leaving him feeling like he'd been on fire.

Astro tried to activate his rockets to right himself, but nothing happened. He began to feel sick to his stomach, the whirling motion and bright lights nearly too much for him to bear. Astro felt a pull surround him and he was abruptly yanked to the left and through the wall of bright colors.

The wind was knocked out of his lungs as he landed on something solid, tumbling head over heels before everything stopped. He groaned, groggily opening his eyes. His vision was blurry, yet he could barely make out dirt and grass in front of him. His head was pounding, his ears were ringing, and everywhere was sore - a burning pain, even. Using his arms, he propped himself up and turned upright, sitting cross-legged and holding onto his forehead. He blinked several times before a clear picture found its way to his eyes. Astro glanced around, his eyes widening in awe. He was in a very green and healthy forest surrounded by shrubs and undergrowth, as well as some flowers nearby. His breath caught in his throat.

Where am I?

Looking down at the area in which he sat, he realized that his arms had been cut up and bruised, bleeding lightly. He screamed, holding his hands out to inspect them.

That was not normal for a robot.

"What is going on…?" he hissed to himself. A shrill noise sounded directly overhead followed by the flapping of wings, and Astro jumped up in surprise. "What was that?!" he shouted, his heart pounding.

Wait.

Heart?

Beginning to hyperventilate, eyes wide in horror, he drew his hands to his chest. He felt the thumps against his chest and his stomach dropped.

He had a heart.

"This can't be happening. This goes against all laws of physics! A robot can't become a human!" he laughed, falling back onto his bottom and looking at himself. "This is impossible." A bile rose in his throat and he gripped the front of his shirt and doubled over, releasing the contents of his stomach. Looking at what had just happened, he began to shake violently.

This must be a dream. But it felt so real. I can't be a human. Yet here he was, a human who had been a robot mere minutes ago. Astro curled up into a ball and began rocking back and forth, head pressed firmly against his knees. He just wanted to wake up. This felt like some sort of nightmare.

Remembering where he was, he froze and shakily lifted his head. Where was he, really? There were no healthy forests left in the world, let alone one of this size. Just how much more could he take on his plate? Taking a deep breath he rose to his feet, wobbling slightly. He fell against a tree and closed his eyes, feeling dizzy. The world was spinning around him, making him feel even more sick.

Hours seemed to pass by as he stood against the tree, waiting for the moment he could reopen his eyes. When all stopped wobbling, he slowly did so, breathing a sigh of relief when he didn't feel sick anymore. His whole body hurt, his heart was still pounding, his cuts stung - but other than that he was okay. Pulling himself together, he began through the forest, only to trip and fall over a tree root jutting from the ground. Astro face planted onto the forest floor, a new pain shooting through his body. "Dense forest. Great," he muttered, sitting up and rubbing his face. "Definitely."

A trickling sound met his ears and he turned towards the source, perplexed. The only thing he had ever heard before that mimicked that…

Astro scrambled to his feet, his mouth suddenly cotton-dry as thirst and hunger washed over him. He hurried towards the sound, his stomach clenching at the thought of water. As he reached the sound, he paused to take in its beauty. It was a large stream, cascading over rocks protruding from its bed, the sun glittering off the waves and creating sparkles as the spray splashed over his shoes.

It really was quite beautiful.

Following the water upstream, he reached a spot where it wasn't so rapid and fell to his knees. He cupped his hands and shoved them into the water, drinking it greedily. When he finished, he sat on the backs of his legs, taking the time to actually look at the forest around him. This was definitely nowhere near Metro City. From the lessons in school, he had always been taught that the humans polluted the Earth to the point of no return, and that's why they had created the floating oasis's that occupied the skies today. He knew that there had been people living on the Surface below Metro City, and the other oasis's for that matter, but there was nowhere in the world that housed this many trees and undergrowth in one place. Sure, there had been trees and grass and heavy growth over most of the things left on the Surface, but nothing like this. There had also been no fresh water source left anywhere on the planet, except what you made yourself, or what had been produced on the oasis.

If this truly was his world, Astro felt cheated.

But that wouldn't explain what had happened to him.

How could a robot have turned into a human? It was not even physically possible. A human could turn into a robot through surgery, yes, but there was absolutely nothing that made a robot become a human being. Nothing at all.

"So how?" Astro murmured to himself as he cupped his hands together in his lap, twiddling his fingers as his thoughts ran amok. Closing his eyes, he took another deep breath. From what his father had told him of his project, it had been to create a wormhole generator so that they could begin teleportation from one oasis to another, to save both time and resources. The tear in space-time that happened instead would then theoretically make everything get sucked into it like a black hole. A black hole tears everything apart molecule by molecule, but combining that information with what the machine was supposed to have done… Resulting in a failed teleportation and possibly rearranged molecules. Astro gasped, opening his eyes and smacking his fist down into his open palm. "That's it!" he voiced out loud.

The only possible explanation was that his molecules - or DNA - had been rearranged, and he had been teleported somewhere on the planet, possibly to a different time.

But which time? And where? He had to find out.

Astro glanced down into the stream at his reflection. He touched the top of his head as he realized that his hair had been tinted dark brown and it was messy. Not at all how his hair was supposed to look like. He traced his fingers down the length of his face, stopping at his cheeks, which were flushed red by the excess flow of blood to his brain. He shivered at the thought, his skin prickling and the hair on his forearms raising. He rubbed his arms up and down quickly, trying to get the feeling off of him. Cupping his hands in the water once more, he rinsed off his arms and areas that were cut, also taking the time to splash his face - just to be doubly sure it wasn't a dream.

With a sigh, he stood and glanced around. He needed to find civilization, but he had no idea where to even begin to look. This forest could go on for miles, and he was starting to feel hungry. His stomach growled a bit and he held onto it with a wince. He'd have to get used to that feeling.

Using his quick thinking skills, Astro glanced up into the tops of the trees. If he climbed to the top of one of the tallest trees, he would be able to see where he was. Determined, he hurried towards a tall tree with low branches and began to climb, his muscles crying out from the effort. His forehead broke into a sweat as he reached for each branch, carefully placing his feet on the ones below.

His foot slipped and he let out a wail, falling onto a thick branch below with a swift blow to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Wood and leaves scattered around him as they fluttered to the ground. It was then that he realized just how high he had already climbed. He groaned, scrambling back into a climbing position. He needed to be more careful.

Continuing in his climb, he grabbed onto a thick branch above his head. A few more moments passed and he finally reached the top of the tree. He carefully stuck his head out of the foliage, gasping at the sight that befell him. It was beautiful. The forest went on for what seemed like forever to the west and the north, and he turned to the south to see that the forest thinned out and there were…

Houses?

They were unlike any of the houses he'd seen before. All of the homes in Metro City were apartment buildings, none like the one-story buildings that he saw. To the east, he noticed a city's outline in the distance and his heart dropped. This couldn't be his time at all. It had to be some point in the past, or maybe the future? Either way, he needed to find out quickly and get back home as soon as he could. Hopefully, if it was at some point in the past, they would still have the technology he needed in order to create a device to get him home. Even though time travel was still theoretical.

After climbing down from the tree, he made a boltline for the east, hopping over undergrowth and trailing around rocks and trees. Astro paused to catch his breath, wiping the sweat from his brow and placing his hands on his knees. Looking back at how far he had come, he shook his head. Being a human was harder than it looked.

Astro was dripping with sweat as he finally reached the end of the forest. Breathing heavily, he bent over once more to catch his breath. This was definitely something he did not want to do again.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" a woman's voice chirped from in front of him.

Astro glanced up to see a young woman in her 30's, her hair jet-black and her eyes a vivid green. Her hair swung towards him as she leaned down to talk to him. He was taken aback slightly by her dialect. She was speaking Japanese, sure, but it was more...northern? He couldn't quite place it. "U-uh...yeah, I-I'm fine," Astro stammered, regaining his composure.

It seemed that the woman was surprised by his dialect as well, for she replied, "Ah, you're not from around here, are you?"

Something nagged at the back of his head, but he pushed the thought away. "I'm not sure, actually," he answered. "What city is this?"

The woman seemed slightly weirded out by his reply, but she answered nonetheless. "It's a prefecture named Musutafu, just outside of Tokyo."

"T-Tokyo?!" Astro squeezed out, his voice tiny and his eyes bulging out of his head. Okay, this is worse than I thought. If this is Tokyo, then I should be back in the mid 20th century. They might not have the technology I need, but I can find Mt. Sofia and…

Wait, where was Mt. Sofia? He hadn't seen it anywhere, and yet he should have seen it while he was in that tree. From the history books he had read, Mt. Sofia had been very close to Tokyo.

Sudden realization slapped him in the face and he stared blankly at the ground. "Wh...what year is this?" he asked.

"Er...2018?" The woman gasped and clapped her hands together. "Oh my, are you perhaps a time traveler? Oooh, this is exciting!"

Astro barely heard her as she continued on, zoning completely out. His heart was pounding in his chest. It was the same exact year as back home. Mt. Sofia didn't exist. Tokyo was still here. The world was not polluted. There were still healthy forests. There was fresh water everywhere.

He was in an alternate reality.

A/N: Please leave me a review! Reviews give me motivation to write and therefore the content within the chapter is much better! I've written up to chapter 3 already, but I won't release the next chapter until I keep my 2 chapter cushion. Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll stick with the story!